David Godbold

On March, 30th Galerie Bernd Klüser is opening David Godbold’s first one-man-show in Germany. The exhibition includes recent works on paper by the English artist, as well as a wall-drawing that was specifically made for our gallery space. Godbold’s works reflect his critical examination of the production of visual imagery in high and low culture, alongside a semiotic, epistemological and personal investigation into culture and linear historicism.

Godbold works primarily in the traditional media of pen and ink on paper. During a year long residency at PS1 Contemporary Art Center in 1999, an affiliate of the MoMA, New York, Godbold began making small drawings on tracing paper – a sort of combination of old master drawings and comic book “mass” illustrations – laid over found or collected materials. This method has become central to his practice. The drawings are complemented by typed texts – free comments by the artist, quotes or literary excerpts from a broad range of sources, such as Wittgenstein or Britney Spears. Together, these elements – drawing, background and text - form a complex, often satirical comment on contemporary life. Godbold’s Art describes war and human suffering, conflicts and familiar religious concerns – fear of death and hope for salvation. It is often difficult to make out the origin of the voice in his works, one is never quite certain if it’s the author’s , if it’s coming from the depicted characters or from an independent narrator. Even if we think we have found the source of this voice, it remains unclear, whether the expressed feelings or words are genuine or deeply ironic. But behind the subtle interconnection of the three elements, that often seem to have no relation at first sight, is mostly a political dimension whose deepness is only revealed during a more profound engagement with the subject. But even if the drawings seem to be ironically alienated, it is their serious content that the artist wants to be understood.

Born in England in 1961, David Godbold studied at the Goldsmith College of Art in London. Since 1990 he is teaching at the National College of Art & Design in Dublin, where he lives and works.

Pressetext

David Godbold
The last transmission before nightfall
Galerie Klüser 2